His bar rode not only the gentrification crest of north-central Brooklyn but that of the craft-beer revolution nationally; to have been digging smoked porters and East India Pale Ales and doppelbock in the mid-1990s was to have mastered a secret handshake.

While New Holland is oft over-looked they are well-loved and they create the ever-solid Mad Hatter IPA, and not only a schwarzbier, but also a kolsch, rye doppelbock, and Belgian dark, among countless others.

Summary: a lack of complexity and an overbearing coffee flavor prevents this from rocketing to the top of my list, but it's really a fun, solid doppelbock that I would not hesitate to recommend to someone who was looking for something a little different provided they are a coffee drinker